Lori Falce: Veep is more than spare tire job this year

There are very few things as disappointing as a near miss.

It is an honor just to be nominated, but runner-up seems to sting more than honorable mention because you were just that close to the crown.

That’s probably part of why the office of the vice president of the United States has such little real consequence in a normal election. Recent reviews of the debate performances of previous contenders to be the president’s understudy showed that getting a prime time spotlight did little to affect how people voted.

Oh, sure, there have been some winning moments. Vice President Mike Pence being harried by a persistent fly in his snow-white hair on Wednesday will probably go down in history along with Lloyd Bentsen’s “you’re no Jack Kennedy” snark to Dan Quayle in 1988 or Admiral James Stockdale’s “Who am I?” in 1992.

But in the great scheme of things, the VP debates have almost been comic relief in contrast to the Christians-vs.-lions main event of presidential candidates facing off.

And then there was 2020 — proving once again that this year flatly refuses to play according to the rules.

In the midst of a pandemic, having a good chain of succession is important. It’s all the more so when both of the presidential candidates are well into their 70s and in an age group that makes up the largest chunk of coronavirus deaths.

This year, we aren’t just picking what Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first vice president John Nance Garner accurately called “a spare tire on the automobile of government.” You know, the thing you have around just in case but use so seldom that you almost forget how to make the change?

No, this year, the vice president’s office is more like a good belt. Decorative but also functional, and definitely not the kind of thing you want to risk not having around.

We aren’t electing a superstar and a backup singer. We are quite possibly selecting two presidents, and the secondary position deserves the kind of attention it has really never had.

No one knew that Kennedy, the youngest president elected, would need someone to carry on his work. Lyndon Baines Johnson was selected for the Southern pull he brought to the ticket more than any like-minded sensibilities. Harry S. Truman was selected by the 1944 conference to replace FDR’s second vice president, Henry Wallace. Don’t know the name? That pretty much proves how much respect is accorded the position.

But eight presidents have died in office and one has resigned. Nine vice presidents have been called on to step up to the job no one really expected them to do. When we look back on those, we see the ones who were prepared and the ones who weren’t.

Five of them either didn’t win or didn’t seek their own full term in office. Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached.

Theodore Roosevelt, Truman and Lyndon Johnson weren’t perfect but they do have solid — but definitely debatable — resumes both before they took the top job and while they held it.

The best candidate can’t be a political bargain but a governing partner. Should he or she become the 10th person to step up in the event of a loss, the country needs the continuity of a seamless transition.

In this case, it really should be an honor just to be nominated, because that nomination represents a faith that few runners-up are afforded: Faith in leadership.

What we owe the position is respect. What we owe the candidates is attention to what they bring to the ticket.